As implementation winds down, early communication with cities and SC2 team members about the exit strategy could ensure that both parties are able to plan for the transition and take steps to sustain and build upon SC2 accomplishments and the relationships formed during the engagement. Furthermore, SC2’s impact can broaden by sharing the lessons

As implementation begins, federal agencies could try to ensure that the SC2 teams have sufficient resources, including staff time and travel budgets, to most effectively help cities address their priorities. Additionally, team leads and the SC2 Council might benefit from monitoring the match between city priorities and SC2 team member skills throu

City staff may benefit from deeper communication about what to expect as a pilot city, including guidelines as to (i) whom should be involved from the city and (ii) what roles they should play, (iii) what SC2 team members can reasonably be expected to achieve in a city, and (iv) what the limitations of the engagement are. While this information wa

From our analysis of the strengths and challenges of the SC2 approach, and factors affecting SC2 team accomplishments, we have identified a number of potential improvements to the approach for three stages of the engagement: before implementation of SC2 team activities, during implementation, and as implementation nears completion.

Further limiting progress in certain cases was a misalignment between a specific focus area or project in a pilot city and the expertise of the SC2 team members assigned to the city. Cities reported cases in which an SC2 team member came from one program in a federal agency when the city really needed the skills or experience from a different prog

A challenge related to the assessment process is that it did not sufficiently determine which cities were best positioned to engage in and benefit from the pilot. Federal stakeholders noted that the first round of site selection did not adequately differentiate cities that were prepared to benefit from a SC2 team from those that were not as prepar

From the perspective of federal agencies, the lack of dedicated financial resources for SC2 activities was a key challenge that affected their ability to allocate resources to the pilot. A lack of funding meant that agencies had to reallocate existing resources to cover staff time and travel budgets. As a result, many agencies struggled to dedicat

We also identified several challenges to the SC2 approach as piloted that impeded progress in addressing city priorities. These challenges are related to a lack of financial resources, the inability of some cities to take full advantage of the resources offered by the pilot, and the misalignment of cities’ needs and the assigned team members.

The pilot served as a unique experience for participating federal employees, affording them new insight into economically challenged communities and how an agency’s programs and policies impact localities. Additionally, the experience allowed federal employees to attain new skills, such as the ability to work directly with local governments, bui

Additionally, the SC2 team approach encouraged new cross-agency collaborations that federal agencies and federal employees found valuable. Collaboration allowed SC2 team members to become familiar with other agencies’ community development programs as well as make valued connections with staff at other agencies, both professional and personal, t

From the perspective of the federal government, a key strength of the SC2 approach was that it gave agencies new insight into how local governments in distressed cities operate and how to better target resources to their needs. SC2 team members learned how cities manage competing priorities under the strain of limited capacity, how they use federa

Cities appreciated the new or improved relationships the pilot cultivated with city partners. Cities established new relationships with federal employees and expect those relationships to serve as resources beyond the end of the pilot. The pilot also helped repair previously strained relationships between city and federal representatives. Addition

City stakeholders also regarded the pilot as a way to facilitate a more direct connection to a range of federal resources and staff. Cities gained a better understanding of federal policies and programs, an increased awareness of federal funding opportunities, and a better understanding of how to more effectively use existing federal funds. The ci

For the pilot cities, the engagement represented a new way to interact with the federal government in which the city directs the federal government in how it can best help address local priorities. Cities valued this bottom-up approach, which contrasted with historical relationships with federal agencies that emphasized grant compliance and federa

Our evaluation identified several strengths of the SC2 approach from both the perspective of the pilot cities and of the federal government. From the perspective of pilot cities, strengths include a new way to interact with the federal government, a more direct connection to federal resources, and new or improved relationships with city partners.

How cities and SC2 teams worked together affected their ability to make progress addressing city priorities. Two factors were important. First, SC2 teams worked best when the city provided a clear focus for their work. In cities that lacked a clear strategy or had conflicting priorities for SC2’s work, team leads, team members, and city staff st

Several characteristics of SC2 team members were associated with success. SC2 team members with greater experience in their home agency, or greater content expertise, were frequently better able to help cities address their priority areas. In particular, senior staff members played key roles in connecting city stakeholders to high-level federal de

As with cities, the commitment of federal agencies affected the success of the SC2 pilot. Agency commitment, as measured by (i) the number of agency staff, (ii) amount of staff time dedicated to the pilot, (iii) the number of members embedded in the cities, (iv) the access the SC2 team and city had to senior-level agency officials, and (v) agency

On the part of the cities, the extent and type of mayoral commitment to the pilot was key to progress. Efforts by mayors in the early stages of the pilot to set a vision for the SC2 team’s activities and convey the importance of the engagement to city staff facilitated progress, while a lack of initial planning for SC2 efforts led to delays in i

The evaluation identified a number of factors affecting the success of SC2 teams. These factors are related to four components of the pilot: the role of the cities, the role of federal agencies, the characteristics of the SC2 teams, and how the cities and SC2 teams worked together.

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